Latest / The One Small Change Podcast / Stop Being Your Own VA and Become the Visionary

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Stop Being Your Own VA and Become the Visionary · The One Small Change Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the One Small Change Podcast. I can't believe it's time again
• 0:04
  this week, and I am thrilled to embark on this journey of
• 0:07
  exploration and transformation with you. And I'm glad you're taking time to join
• 0:11
  me too, because I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy, and I bring almost 30 years
• 0:15
  of entrepreneurial experience and a passion for discovering
• 0:18
  growth through the power of seemingly small change.
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  And every week, I try to bring somebody interesting and new to talk to
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  you so that you can learn from their experience. And
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  this week, we are speaking with Brandi Cox.
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  Brandi, thank you so much for being here. I'm so
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  excited. So tell everybody what you do and what was
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  it that made you decide that's why you were going to do
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  it and be good at it? Well, thank you for having me.
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  So I was a big corporate leader and a huge global
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  conglomerate, and I actually became disabled.
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  So I'm a disabled combat vet. And when
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  I became disabled, I started, like, trying to figure out what
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  to do with myself because couldn't just sit around watching TV all the time.
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  So I started looking at entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, coaches,
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  business owners, small business owners. And I quickly
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  realized that there's absolutely no support
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  to. No structural support, softwares,
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  processes, anything for small businesses.
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  And so what we are done. What we have done is we have tried to
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  wing it. And I was like, hey, I used to
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  do this for huge global conglomerates. Why don't I give you guys my
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  expertise and my processes and the things that I know how to do?
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  And so that's where it began. So
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  when you were, what. What would you say is the
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  biggest thing that entrepreneurs, especially solopreneurs, if
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  they're coming out of corporate, have to deal with?
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  They. When you come from corporate, you have a
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  lot of structure. There's HR, there's management,
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  there's processes. There's usually, like, somebody in charge
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  of office supplies, you know, whatever. Everybody's in charge
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  of everything. And so what solopreneurs do is
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  they look at it and they go, I now have to do all of this.
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  And that's the number one reason why solopreneurs fail.
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  So. So, okay.
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  You're right. I mean, you know, I mean, it's like, wait,
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  I thought I had somebody to do this, and I don't, and that would be
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  me. Right? And so one of the things you say is
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  you have three steps solopreneurs can use to scale with
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  ease. So do you want to talk about those? And. And I have to tell
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  you, the word clone kind of puts my teeth on
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  edge a little bit. But I want to hear your explanation
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  first. Well, the idea of the talk of clone yourself
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  was because we all sometimes wish, oh my gosh, I wish there was
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  two of me, right? I just, I wish I had more hands.
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  And so what I do is I sit down with the person and
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  I go, okay, what do you wish your day looked like? What are you
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  stuck doing? So like, what is it you're stuck in the middle of? You're
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  mired in the mud of, you know, can't see the forest for the trees.
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  And then let's get all of that off your plate. So keep you focused on
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  what you do best. So my tagline for 10 plus years has been you
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  do what you do best, we'll do the rest. And
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  so the number one thing we do is figure out what are you doing that's
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  not your revenue generating activity, that's not your genius zone.
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  Let's put that on the hands of somebody else, whether it's a
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  software, whether it's a process, delegating,
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  outsourcing, whatever that looks like and
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  get that off your plate so you can stay focused on what you do. Because
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  when you step away from that revenue generating activity, you are losing
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  money. There are no big businesses, real
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  businesses, we sometimes like to think of them as, that are doing their own
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  stuff. Dell doesn't do their own communication and
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  customer support and tech support. Microsoft doesn't do their own
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  tech support and customer support. Like these
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  companies don't do it themselves. Why are we doing it ourselves? And the
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  only reason why is because we don't know any better. We don't, we haven't been
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  taught any better. So we think we have to do it all ourselves.
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  And I'm like, there's a million different ways to get this done. We don't have
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  to do it all ourselves. There's lots of ways we can use
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  software to automate things or delegate
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  part time project base or just outsource to another company altogether.
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  Well, The reason, The reason that I said when I, when you say clone yourself,
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  it makes me, makes my kids go this way is
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  because I, I used to coach women executives of non
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  profits and they would say to me, I just need someone just like
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  me. And I wanted to say, you're a mess.
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  You don't need another mess. You need somebody that's going to take up the
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  stuff that you're not good at. So
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  you don't want to clone. You want some people with diverse skills.
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  But I think One of the things that I find.
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  With solopreneurs is they
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  don't realize that it's a team
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  effort. If you're subcontracting to somebody,
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  if you're using a system, you're kind of like that.
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  That's part of your team. Right. And
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  when your team is working well, good things are going to
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  continue to happen on a consistent basis. And I
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  actually experienced this the other day when
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  this message just really hit me in the face really hard.
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  I. I did a summit, and in my brain, I thought, well, I'm doing the
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  summit. I'm not going to do my monthly workshop. But I didn't tell anybody
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  that, Right. And so, you know, the first
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  day I gave out the link with the date in it for
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  the next month, and people went, this says August.
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  Right. And the next day I had an affiliate say, I'm so
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  excited to promote your workshop this week. And at the end of the second
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  day, I had over 20 people registered. And it was like, oh,
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  things are working really well. I'm the problem,
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  right? Because I'm thinking that I'm still, you know, doing my own thing.
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  So when you said that there are three steps that
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  solopreneurs can take, what do you want to talk to us about those?
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  So one of the first things that we do, like I said,
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  is we sit down and we figure out what those systems need to look like,
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  Whether that's a process or software, what that needs to
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  look like to get it off your plate so we can consolidate all of that
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  into, you know, a plan. So it's between
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  building systems, delegating and outsourcing,
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  getting all of those things off your plate. So
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  that is so important because. If you are
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  carrying everything around in your own head. Yep. You don't
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  really have a business. I mean, you can't. Nobody
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  can replicate what's in your head unless you put it somewhere, someplace
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  else. And I think. I think, whoops.
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  I think what people don't realize all the time is that.
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  Having a process and a system
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  make sure that you have consistent quality and.
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  And believe it or not, people do leave, leave their jobs and stuff
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  like that. So if you've got somebody who. Who has put together a system for
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  you and not put it on paper, they're walking out the door with
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  your business. They are. We see that happen
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  every day. Somebody, you know, a solopreneur, will hire a
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  VA and this VA is in charge of all of the things,
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  and they have no idea. They just tell this va, go do this. And then
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  that VA gets a better job or has to quit their
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  job for some reason or, you know, what have you.
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  And then all of a sudden they have no idea how their business runs anymore
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  because that VA was handling everything. Yeah. And like, that's one of
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  the first things that we do is we make that continuity book. We make that
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  the standard operating procedures so that anybody
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  can hop in and work on something. They have all of the step
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  by step instructions, whether it's screenshots or software or whatever we need to
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  do to make sure that that happens, but they need to
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  have, so that anybody can just pop in, do that job
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  and pop out. And so like when I'm working
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  with my team and my staff and we're, because we're an
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  outsourced company, we have a staffing agency and everything. And so when
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  we're working with a client, that's one of the first things that I do. And
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  I make sure that, yes, this might be your, you
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  know, your head, part of my team that you're working with, but any of
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  my team can pop in and do that job. If that person's out sick, if
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  that person has to quit for any reason, I
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  need to be able to make sure that everything's got continuity
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  because otherwise then I'll be the problem with your business.
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  Yeah. So, okay, so systems and processes. What's the
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  next thing, the delegation and how that
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  looks and what that looks like? Not necessarily like,
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  oh, I'm just going to put this on their plate. Delegation has a whole.
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  Set of rules to it. You can't just go here, do this, and then
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  micromanage them or, you know,
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  get upset because it's not done right because they don't have the right instructions. There's
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  a, there's an actual process to delegation. And so working with the
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  business owner to make sure that they're completely aware
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  of what delegation looks like, how that works, what's the best
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  process, what is the method to
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  communicate? And so that's, you know,
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  it's really hard to get something out of your head and into the head of
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  somebody else if you don't know how to do that. So that's one of
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  the things we work with people about. So this is like one of my
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  favorite things. And so just very
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  briefly, I just want to add that when you are working
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  with a subcontractor, you are delegating. Right.
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  And so you have to be really clear
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  about what it is that you want. And, and I always say to people, you
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  know, typically they say, delegate, automate, eliminate.
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  I, I think you should go about it the absolute Opposite direction.
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  Because otherwise you were just taking the crap on the top of your
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  pile and saying to somebody, do it. And, and, and it goes
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  back to the process. Because if somebody doesn't give you the results you
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  want before you go, what's wrong with them? You go,
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  you need to go, was there a process? Did they know the process?
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  Did they follow the process? Does the process need to be changed,
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  you know, and updated? Then you go to them, right?
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  Because if you tell them, if you don't give them enough
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  instruction or there's not enough resources for them to do the
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  job correctly, it's not their fault. Right?
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  And, and I look at delegation, I say to people, you know, you think of
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  delegation as just giving people stuff to do. I think of delegation as
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  training. You're training people to take on an important part
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  of your business. Okay, so I got that off my chest. So
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  what's the third thing? Well, the third thing
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  is we also talk to people about true outsourcing,
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  which is not just delegating to internal staff
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  and stuff like that, but outsourcing to a whole team of experts where
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  this is their genius zone, this is their specialty. So
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  they're going to be able to give you advice instead of you pushing
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  this is the way it's done. They can actually say, hey, this
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  is a better way because that's their expertise,
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  that's their revenue generating activity, their genius.
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  And so that's what people don't realize is like you can just assign something to
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  a va and that's different from outsourcing to a company that's going
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  to take that task over completely. And so
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  that's, there's a very clear distinction there. And a lot of people
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  kind of melt, know, merge them and meld them. And I'm
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  like, when you are treating
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  somebody like, you know, quote, unquote, staff, you
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  treat them differently than you would a expert consultant.
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  And so you as a business strategist, you know that when you come in
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  and you're helping somebody, you have, this is a
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  recommended method, a best practice. And they sometimes
• 12:47
  have their own understandings of how the world works. And
• 12:51
  you're like, no, really, this is the better way. And so
• 12:54
  that's a completely different process. And so that's where we like to say,
• 12:58
  okay, depending on what your needs are, you might delegate, you
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  might outsource or you might automate. You know, it depends
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  on what you need. And so that's, that's something
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  where our expertise is just
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  like yours is to help them, guide them to the best
• 13:16
  thing that's going to work best for them. And I. I think the other
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  part to this that makes life even more crazy is
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  nothing is standing still. No. You know, and
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  so a solution that worked maybe a year and a half ago
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  maybe doesn't work as well now or won't get to where you're
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  going. And I think.
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  This is just. You know, again, I've had really good conversations
• 13:43
  with people today. They fit all my. All my hot buttons. But I
• 13:47
  don't know why people are so resistant to
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  listening to other people's ideas. You know, and
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  so when I teach delegation, I say, this is what I was.
• 13:58
  This. First, I start with what. What the end result is. This is what I'm
• 14:01
  trying to accomplish, and this is how I would do
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  it. And then I say, do you have any better ideas? Or what
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  are your thoughts? Or how would you do it? Right.
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  Because sometimes their idea is so much
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  better than mine based on their expertise, whether it
• 14:20
  is. You know, just. How do we put something simple together? I mean,
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  I'll never forget when I was working in a tax office,
• 14:27
  and it was like we. We were, like, really short on space, and.
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  And, you know, it was like, all these people are like, where are we gonna
• 14:34
  put this? You know, I mean, it was like this big thing, and the receptionist
• 14:38
  came in and said, you could put it behind this door.
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  And we're like, no. And she's like, yeah. And I'm like,
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  this shelf would not fit. There she goes, yeah, I measured it. It would.
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  Perfect solution in less than five minutes. And
• 14:55
  all of these people with their brain cells are trying to figure it out. I
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  mean, I always say One of the best things about doing exit interviews
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  or when new people come to work for you, even though you think that
• 15:07
  the question is silly, you need to take time and listen to
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  it, because there's something that triggered it. And if you get the same question
• 15:14
  every single time from new people, there's something you're not training
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  on or not telling them. I mean, it's a huge sense
• 15:21
  of information, and I think we get. You know, it's like, I'm
• 15:25
  the boss for the first time. I. You know, whatever it is.
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  Okay, so those are three things. That's fantastic.
• 15:35
  You said you brought a gift. I did.
• 15:39
  So I. It's like Christmas. Yay.
• 15:46
  I actually have a free download of my chapter
• 15:49
  in Wired to Win book, and
• 15:53
  so I am giving that out to everybody who wants
• 15:56
  the free. My free chapter on how to, you know, go from
• 16:00
  vision, stop being the VA and start being the visionary, and
• 16:04
  how to scale. This is something that I really want to share on The Small
• 16:05
  Change Podcast. So fantastic. Give that away to
• 16:08
  everybody. I'm so excited about that because I think, I
• 16:12
  think, you know, when, when I first started coaching, one of the
• 16:15
  things I said was, do you find that
• 16:19
  at the, that you've been busy all day long, and at the end of the
• 16:22
  day, all the projects that only you can do are still sitting on your desk,
• 16:27
  then you need to do something, you know, then you need to change that, because
• 16:30
  you're not putting your gifts where they're supposed to be.
• 16:34
  And so I think that that is a great gift for anybody
• 16:39
  who's listening to this. And I want to make sure you guys, you know,
• 16:42
  you're going to find the link in the, in the chat,
• 16:46
  in the, in the notes, and so you definitely need to do
• 16:50
  that. Okay, so, all right, I'm going to ask you, before we run out of
• 16:53
  time, when was the last time you did something new for
• 16:57
  the first time? Well, doing
• 17:00
  podcasts. So I, I, this
• 17:04
  isn't really where I feel the most comfortable. And so
• 17:07
  I am autistic, and I struggle with communication
• 17:11
  sometimes, and because I think and talk like a
• 17:14
  computer. And so I was like, okay, I need to start working on
• 17:18
  this, because this is something that's going to help move my business forward. So I
• 17:22
  needed to get out here and start doing it. And
• 17:26
  action makes perfect. So the
• 17:29
  more that I come out and the more that I talk, the more confident I
• 17:33
  feel, the more clear I am, and the more
• 17:37
  I feel like it's not as scary because I'm out here doing
• 17:40
  it. And what's the worst that can happen? What's the worst that could happen? They
• 17:44
  can't take away my birthday. So I was like, you know what
• 17:47
  the worst that happens is? I feel like a fool. And you know
• 17:51
  what the best thing that could happen is? It moves my business forward. So, so
• 17:55
  I want to say congratulations. And one of the things I say all the time
• 17:59
  is. You need to feel
• 18:02
  uncomfortable. Right? And the other thing that,
• 18:06
  that, you know, I find is if I don't have some
• 18:09
  flutters in my stomach about something I'm going to do,
• 18:13
  it means I don't care. Right? You know, because
• 18:16
  it's like, if I care about it, it's like, I, you know, did I do
• 18:20
  what? You know, am I prepared? Am I going to be able to really connect
• 18:23
  with the audience? Am I going to be able to do this? If I'm talking
• 18:27
  to a client, it's like, okay, let me see. I know they're resisting
• 18:30
  this. How do I help them work through it or whatever. And I always
• 18:34
  had that, like, you know, if I'm like,
• 18:38
  you know, I'll just wing it. It's like, no big deal. It's like, that's the
• 18:42
  signal to my brain, I don't care. You
• 18:46
  know, and it's like, why do I not care? And if I don't care, is
• 18:49
  this something that's really going to move my business? Am I really doing this for
• 18:52
  the right reason? Maybe I should step aside on this.
• 18:56
  So, first of all, I want to tell you I think that it's wonderful that
• 18:59
  you're feeling uncomfortable and you're doing it, and you did it wonderfully.
• 19:03
  The other thing I would say that I can't help. This is the second
• 19:07
  time this has happened in, like, three days. Is
• 19:11
  turning. Talking about learning styles. And I think that
• 19:15
  entrepreneurs need to know a little bit about
• 19:18
  learning styles because we don't all learn the same way.
• 19:22
  And I am a highly visual person.
• 19:26
  I mean, I'm, I, I'm. I had trouble
• 19:29
  reading as a kid, and. I could almost
• 19:33
  memorize the books. I mean, I don't have a photographic memory or anything like that,
• 19:37
  but when I need to find information, I can close my eyes and
• 19:41
  go, where did I see that? You know, my husband is
• 19:44
  highly auditory. I mean, it is.
• 19:48
  It is like ships moving in the night. I mean, I'll say to. If he
• 19:52
  loses something, I'll go, where was the last place you saw it? And he just,
• 19:55
  like, looks at me like, huh. But if I say him, what were you listening
• 19:58
  to on the, you know, were you on your AirPods? Were you on your favorite
• 20:02
  speakers? Were you. You know, then he gets it. You know,
• 20:06
  it is so. It is so weird. And so part of that delegation
• 20:10
  process, or if in terms you're doing sales, it
• 20:13
  is really important that you understand what your style is,
• 20:17
  because that's your natural go to. But be able
• 20:21
  to expand that for other people, you know, whether it's giving a
• 20:25
  different kind of example or whatever to help
• 20:28
  your client or your employee or your, you know, to get what it
• 20:32
  is that you're doing. So this has been my. This has been my week of
• 20:36
  people with all kinds of learning kinds of things, myself included.
• 20:39
  Okay, so before we run out of time, I. I got to do
• 20:43
  the commercial. So I want to make sure
• 20:47
  that everybody takes some time to subscribe and share and
• 20:50
  engage on social media with the Podcast. And the reason
• 20:54
  I'm doing it is because I'm trying to, you know, make our community even
• 20:58
  more vibrant and fuel your quest for growth and impact. And I
• 21:02
  do that by trying to bring as many different kinds of people as I can
• 21:05
  with their stories and the things that they can do to help you
• 21:09
  so that you will be able to grow your business, pick and choose, and
• 21:13
  have experiences that you might not otherwise have. So I
• 21:17
  hope you'll continue to follow me and listen to The One Small Change
• 21:20
  Podcast. And if you haven't done it yet, you should listen to the first episode
• 21:24
  or to one of the quarter clarity check-in calls
• 21:28
  that I do where I talk about what's happening in the quarter and
• 21:31
  what trends are coming up.
• 21:39
  Stop being your own VA and get back to being your own
• 21:43
  visionary. I like it. I like it a lot.
• 21:48
  All right, guys, we've run out of time. We could talk a lot
• 21:51
  more about some of my favorite topics. But I want you to
• 21:55
  remember, change can be simple, but it's not always easy. And it
• 21:58
  takes courage, resilience, and a willingness to step out of your comfort
• 22:02
  zone. And like we said, if you really care, you're gonna, you know, feel a
• 22:06
  little butterflies in your stomach. And, you know, what I know
• 22:09
  is if you are not feeling uncomfortable, you're not
• 22:13
  growing. If you're not growing, you're actually stagnating because
• 22:17
  the world is moving forward with or without you. So I hope
• 22:20
  you will continue to join me for The One Small Change Podcast, and together
• 22:25
  we can build big visions and innovative possibilities. Until
• 22:28
  then, stay very curious.
• 22:32
  Brandi, thank you so much for giving us your thoughts and stuff.
• 22:36
  Oh, so happy to be here. Bye.